This week I decided to analyze the Digital Harlem mapping project. This project aims to depict everyday life in New York City’s Harlem area within the years of 1915-1930. It has been drawn from legal records, newspapers and other archival and published sources gathered between those times. It aims to focus not on black artists and the black middle class, but on the lives of ordinary African New Yorkers.
The map allows options to view the borders of black settlements during 1920, 1925, and 1930. You are able to filter the view of the map by search categories which encompass events, places, and specific people. Within each of these categories you can narrow down your search by limiting the criteria to options like keyword, dates, charge/conviction, race, gender, occupation, name, and street address.
As the Digital Harlem site is examined, it is important to keep in mind what assumptions the underlying data is built on. If one were to initially look at crime data during this time period, the map would almost be completely filled up with data focused on African Americans. However, this kind of scenario might not at all be an accurate representation of what the daily life actually was like for residents of Harlem during this time. Legal records, newspapers, and published sources might all be inherently biased to a perspective that is promoted by police officers, the government, and even the local media of that time. The site loses out on information and data that could have come from the perspective of a local citizen of Harlem at the time for the categories that Digital Harlem site is based off of. Legal records and newspapers show you information based on altercations/infractions with the dominant class of those times while ignoring simple events which wouldn’t be noteworthy to have been recorded during those times.
If I were to create an alternate map I would first try to see if I could gather data from a more “ground”-focused approach. I would try to get information from people who had relatives who had lived in the area during that time period to get stories and data for how everyday life typically was for them.
I definitely agree that with these sources, the map would not accurately depict everyday life. It is biased based on the people that wrote the reports and the people that thought these events were important enough to write. If I were to create an alternate map, I would do exactly what you suggested. I would take narratives and archives from the people that actually lived in the area.
I agree that this map in no way depicts everyday life — when we look at the Digital Harlem map, we see Harlem during those time periods through the lens of people with power (ie the law enforcement), which will paint a very different picture from what the local Harlem resident of the time would tell you. Much like today 🙁
However, in reality, data like those are the easiest to get your hands on as they are likely to be preserved, unlike diaries/journals, which would be more telling of the day to day life.
I like your idea of obtaining information from primary sources – people who actually experienced the everyday life in New York City’s Harlem. Information is definitely misconstrued or biased when gathered and portrayed by media or published sources.
I had a vague notion of how to improve this project after visiting the site, and you just put it in a much better way! As you have commented, the distortion of facts often results from biased ontologies and incomplete sources. It is really underwhelming that a site that tries to depict daily life fails to deliver an accurate vision of Harlem in that era.
I totally agree with your assessment. It isn’t even biased towards the police. It literally is the police perspective, which is entirely detached from the public “everyday” assessment of daily life. Things like literature of those living at the time, art created at the time, and the like would’ve been good additions to understanding the daily life.
I think it is so interesting interpreting maps now after we have gained some new insight in class. Beforehand I would believe everything I see in this map, but I agree that it is so important to consider other aspects that contribute to creating an accurate depiction of Harlem’s daily life.